Bradford youngsters in All Creatures Great and Small

Based on Alf Wight’s cherished James Herriot books about the life of a country vet - never out of print, selling 60 million copies worldwide - the TV drama is a timeless classic, now loved by a new generation of viewers.

The fourth series of All Creatures Great and Small, filmed in and around Grassington, began on Channel 5 this month and features more than 100 youngsters from Yorkshire drama school Articulate, which has branches in Baildon, Bingley and Cleckheaton. The first episode saw Articulate pupil Billy Hickey, 14, in a guest lead role as troubled Wesley Binks, who crosses paths with James Herriot, leaving the vet worried about the lad’s dog. Cips from the episode were shown on Channel 4’s Gogglebox last week.

Billy Hickey as Wesley with his dog, Duke (Image: Channel 5/Playground)

“Billy played Wesley, a vulnerable lad with an ill dog. When James Herriot tried to help, Wesley got very defensive,” says Articulate principal Stacey. “Billy has had a busy year - he filmed this back in the winter then spent the summer filming for CBBC’s So Awkward. We’re incredibly proud of him.

“It’s been so fun to see everyone in All Creatures in period costumes and playing with 1940s toys. We can’t wait to see more of them later in the series!”

A Playground production, the six-part series, plus a Christmas special, is set in the spring of 1940, with change on the horizon at Skeldale House. James (Nicholas Ralph) and Helen (Rachel Shenton) wonder about the right time to start a family, not knowing if James will be called up to serve in the RAF. And with Tristan away serving in the Royal Army Veterinary Corps, Siegfried (Samuel West) and James bring in some extra hands to help around the practice. Enter Neve McIntosh as efficient bookkeeper Miss Harbottle and James Anthony-Rose as studious but unworldly trainee vet Richard Carmody. The cast also includes Patricia Hodge role as eccentric Mrs Pumphrey, owned of pampered Pekingese Tricki Woo, and a colourful ensemble of farmers, animals and townsfolk.

The series was filmed this year, with Grassington streets and shop fronts turned into 1940s Darrowby. A Christmas tree appeared in the Dales village in the June heatwave. All Creatures Great and Small is a hit in America (the new series airs there in January) and US tourists have flocked to Grassington to visit locations in the show, including Broughton Hall near Skipton, which becomes Pumphrey Manor.

“It’s beautiful, it really is,” says Patricia Hodge. “An amusing detail that I discovered, when we film at Broughton Hall, they have to tape every one of the windows in wartime fashion. Windows had to be cross taped, each pane, so they would withstand any blast that happened and stop them from shattering. Well, you can imagine the number of windows that they have to tape up at Broughton Hall. And they do every single one immaculately. I always stare up at them and think, ‘Someone has got to get up and remove every single one of those tapes when we’ve finished filming.’ So I’m always very admiring of people who do that. It’s laborious.”

Does Patricia have a favourite place in Yorkshire? “Well, I love being based in Harrogate, which I think is a really lovely town, and a visit to Bettys, if I can squeeze it in, it’s the best treat in the world. It’s the most beautiful business, so beautifully run. You feel like it’s the way life used to be.”

Nicholas Ralph enjoyed his scenes the first episode scenes with Billy: “The wonderful thing about James and all the vets in the show is that they don’t only look after the animals, they look after the people, the owners, and we very much see that with James and Wesley Binks. It is a lovely episode to start the series.”

Nicholas says that. although the new series is set in wartime, it’s early days and James isn’t sure if he will be called up: “With James it’s always a battle between heart and mind and that continues in this series. He wants to stand up and be counted if needs be. We see all sorts of people in the village leaving. We know that Siegfried fought in WW1. There is that part of James that wants to do his bit, at the same time he’s a young man who’s just got married.”

What animal antics can we expect from the new series? “We have a boxer dog who’s got a bit of an anti-social problem which is very funny. That’s with Mrs Pumphrey so you can imagine there’s a lot of fun to be had there.

“We have some goats that get loose and run amok. That was a lot of fun. The animals are trained so well, they never put a foot wrong. I was asking the animal wrangler how do they do that? They did it with a buzzer and some food. It was so impressive.”

Melissa Gallant, Executive Producer for Playground, says the show “continues to be such a joyful antidote to our divided and messy modern world”.

“James Herriot’s spirit of kindness, truth and humour has been making people feel better for over 50 years and we’re delighted and honoured to be bringing more of that to our audience in this fourth series.”

* All Creatures Great and Small is on Channel 5 on Thursdays at 9pm.